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Daily reflections for Lenten Easter, written by Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser, OMI.

Every tear brings the Messiah closer.

This was a refrain in Jewish apocalyptic literature and expressed the belief that a certain quota of tears had first to be shed before any true joy could inhabit us. They understood this mystically, not literally. In order to be filled by God, one must first be emptied.

The desert does this for you. It empties you. It’s not a place where you can decide how you want to grow and change, but it is an experience that you undergo, expose yourself to, and have the courage to face.

The idea is not so much that you do things there, but that things happen to you while you’re there. Silent, unseen, transforming things.

The desert purifies you almost against your will. Through God’s efforts.

In the desert, what really occurs is a cosmic confrontation between God and the devil. Though this happens within and through you. Your job is only to have the courage to be there. The idea is that God does the work, providing you have the courage to show up.

In terms of an image, this is what Lent is meant to be, time in the desert, to courageously face the chaos and the demons within us, and to let God do battle with them through us.

The result is that we are purified, made ready. So the intoxicating joy of Easter might then bind us more closely to God and each other.